I love road trips. There is something about jumping into a car with your friends and driving into the unknown that pumps adventure through my veins. However, road trips always seem more fun in the beginning. By the ninth hour on the road, things are slightly different. When our church band received an invitation to play music for a weekend, we eagerly agreed. None of us had been to that small northern town, but we had several good friends from the area, and our anticipation increased as our trip drew closer.
Due to our collective lack of finances, we decided to cram the five of us into a Jeep and take only one vehicle. We were so excited for the quest ahead that we failed to ponder what ten and a half hours together might be like. The first couple of hours were filled with laughter and singing, but the longer we drove the more irritable we became. Things that didn’t bother us in hour #2 sparked tempers in hour #7. Eventually, we discovered that the best way to gain any form of artificial privacy was to close our eyes and try to sleep.
However, near the end of our trip, a funny thing began to happen: we started to get along again. After being forced together, we had learned to survive. In fact, we had grown much closer. Our friendships were deeper, and we had a newfound appreciation for each other in ways that did not exist before the journey.
If God commands us to love each other, then why is this so hard sometimes? I think because relationships take work. In the individualistic society of Western culture, it is no wonder we struggle to relate to each other. I often find myself walking through life concerned only for myself. Email, Facebook, and texting have made life much more convenient. We can now control our relationships through technology, and they become far less personal. It puts the power in my hands, and I am hardly ever forced to sit down with a friend face-to-face. One only needs to stand on the sidewalk downtown to observe how little we as human beings acknowledge each other. It is as if we are each surrounded by a personal bubble, letting only a select few in under extreme suspicion, and we have precious little time for strangers. We, as Christians, should not be like this. Love is not individualistic. Love reaches out past the self, even to the point of personal sacrifice. What would our relationships look like if God forced us to take a ten and a half hour car ride together? When faced with no other option but to work out our problems, what healing might take place? Until I let God heal me from my selfishness, I will never love sacrificially.
“You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” Leviticus 19:18
Mike Blackaby is a 23 year old student & attends Southeastern Seminary in North Carolina. Mike loves to play music, loves to snowboard, play hockey, and cheers for the Colorado Avalanche. He is terrified of spiders, but loves reading fantasy novels, watching movies, taking road trips, building camp fires, and will do any roller coaster if someone goes with him. You can contact him via Facebook.